.....and be brutal, I want to know if I'm getting myself into a bad situation up front.

I've been kicking around an idea for a water feature in my backyard for months now...I have an area about 10X15 right up against my house and I'd like to throw it out to you experts for advice, tips and even how to.
My inspiration comes from rtk's pic of her waterfall.....

http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/...wPondPage.html

.....what I'd like to do however is basically just have the 2x2 basin at the top and a similar size catch basin at the bottom, I don't want a pond and all the work that is involved with it and I don't want fish....I just want the feature and to have it filled with plants and then have a nice dry creek bed made with gray slate that someone posted here recently in regards to a Japanese garden.

I'm pretty confident about the pump setup as my parents have had a pond for several months now and are enjoying it but my questions are mainly will I need a filter with this type of a setup, what size pump should I consider and since I have no experience at all with flexible? liner's....in rtk's setup how exactly is liner and rock arranged? is it ok to have that many rocks on a liner like that? what about punctures? Is her setup liner only or is there some kind of molded basin that is being used? Is there some kind of rule about how steep the slope must/should be....I'm really looking for a very slow moving effect instead of Niagara here. Last question...is it ok to have to rocks free standing like that(especially in a smaller setup) or are the rocks secured...concrete?

I've read quite a few pages that were suggested to me here a few weeks ago but I'd really like some expert advice/diagrams/tips/secret tips/secret decoder ring codes and anything else I can get my hands on before I put shovel to dirt.

I apologize up front for the stupid pond newbie questions

BTW rtk....that waterfall is fantastic! Thanks for the inspiration!

~Wilson~